Market Unrest

By Tom Gilbreath

 

In 2 Timothy 1, the apostle Paul writes about the glories of the Gospel and its promises. In verse 12 he said that he had suffered for the Gospel’s sake. “Nevertheless I am not ashamed,” he continued, “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”

 

The world has again entered a time of economic flux. The Bible has a great deal to say about the future, but it does not say how global stock markets will do next week. President Trump has promised that his policies will “make America rich again,” while his political opponents believe the Trump tariffs will lead to inflation and perhaps even a global depression. 

 

I expect the trade wars to work themselves out sooner rather than later. But that’s only a guess and could be wrong. God alone knows the future. We humans struggle along the razor edge of time. We call that place “now.” Not one of us has been even a millisecond beyond “now.” Using the past as a guide, we can make good guesses about the future. But when I went to bed on September 10, 2001, I didn’t expect the next day would bring a massive terror attack against the United States — an attack that would alter all our lives from that day forward.

 

Even if I knew tomorrow’s headlines, I still might not know the biggest story going on in the world. At the beginning of December 2019, few people had any inkling of a massive new contagion brewing in China. Three months later, it had changed everything. So, not only are we ignorant of the future, we’re also ignorant of most things in the present. 

 

But we can know God. 

 

Markets will shift. Some industries will die while others rise. But the really important thing is to know God, His character, and His Word. Like Paul, we can be fully persuaded that He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him. In 1950, Ira Stanphill wrote, “Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand. But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand.”

 

The Bible gives us the broad sweep of future history and includes many minute details. But there are countless specifics that it does not mention, and that we do not need to know. What we need to know is that we are safe in His Word and in His will. 

 

Since we can trust Him to keep that which we commit to Him, our response should be to commit all to Him. None of us know what the doctor’s next report will say. We don’t know the things our family members will face in the days ahead, any more than we know the lead story of tomorrow’s news. But He holds tomorrow. So, to know Him… is to know enough.

 

In the middle of global turmoil or in times of personal distress, Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB) remains true. “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”